Background
Swarthout, Glendon Fred was born on April 8, 1918 in Pinckney, Michigan, United States. Son of Fred Harrington and Lila (Chubb).
(IN PIONEER NEBRASKA, A WOMAN LEADS WHERE NO MAN WILL GO ...)
IN PIONEER NEBRASKA, A WOMAN LEADS WHERE NO MAN WILL GO Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Tommy Lee Jones, The Homesman is a devastating story of early pioneers in 1850s American West. It celebrates the ones we hear nothing of: the brave women whose hearts and minds were broken by a life of bitter hardship. A “homesman” must be found to escort a handful of them back East to a sanitarium. When none of the county’s men steps up, the job falls to Mary Bee Cuddy—ex-teacher, spinster, indomitable and resourceful. Brave as she is, Mary Bee knows she cannot succeed alone. The only companion she can find is the low-life claim jumper George Briggs. Thus begins a trek east, against the tide of colonization, against hardship, Indian attacks, ice storms, and loneliness—a timeless classic told in a series of tough, fast-paced adventures. In an unprecedented sweep, Glendon Swarthout’s novel won both the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award and the Western Heritage Wrangler Award. A new afterword by the author’s son Miles Swarthout tells of his parents Glendon and Kathryn’s discovery of and research into the lives of the oft-forgotten frontier women who make The Homesman as moving and believable as it is unforgettable.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501102877/?tag=2022091-20
(From the author of The Homesman, Glendon Swarthout’s Bles...)
From the author of The Homesman, Glendon Swarthout’s Bless the Beasts & Children is the classic coming-of-age novel that explores the fabric of the American ideal—as seen through the eyes of rebellious youth. “Send us a boy—we’ll send you a cowboy”: It doesn’t matter if the kid hates the sight of horses. Or if he still sucks his thumb and wets the bed. He’s got to be taught to toe the line. To measure up. To dig in his spurs—because that’s the way things are at the Box Canyon Boys Camp in Arizona. Based on the adventures of the author’s own son, Bless the Beasts & Children tells a tragicomic tale of a group of disturbed teenaged boys from over-privileged families who are sent by their inattentive parents to camp in hopes that their lazy, urban kids will be toughened up in the cowboy program. Complications arise, but these problem boys band together to take up an important cause. In this remarkable novel, Glendon Swarthout presents an electrifying portrait of six adolescent “misfits” on a desperate mission to save themselves. And, in a society dedicated to one narrow view of success, they learn something important about what it means to be a man. This is “an exciting mission-pursuit story with an engrossing cast of characters” (Publishers Weekly).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1476766797/?tag=2022091-20
(This perceptive novel of the 1930's is a hilarious confro...)
This perceptive novel of the 1930's is a hilarious confrontation between youth and the Great Depression. "It's a helluva time to be seventeen, but it's the only one I've got," states Perry Dunnigin, the eager, engaging hero who sports an aspirin spirit while the rest of the nation moans with a monumental financial headache. Son of the cashier of a small town bank in Michigan, Perry is first jolted over the threshold of maturity the "Day They Closed the Banks," when he proudly marches off with his dad to hold off angry depositors. Then, dauntless as a five-leaf clover, he sets off with his accordion to find summmer employment as a musician and to locate love in Charlevoix the Beautiful, the pine-scented Michigan playground of Midwest millionaires. How Perry discovers both -- and more -- makes Loveland one of the breeziest, most entertaining new books in recent years. With the unerring ability that made Where The Boys Are such and overwhelming success, Glendon Swarthout has peopled Loveland with an endearing cast of ex-debutante of nineteen with plans of her own on how to regain the money. College hero Speedy McGimsey, a free-wheeling, saddle-shoed troubadour with a voice like Russ Columbo. Multi-milloinair Logan Cooke, last of the playboys, whose mysterious death pushes Bonnie and Clyde right off the front pages. And Kissable Miller, sweetheart of Michigan State, whose marriage turns Charlevoix's elegant and decorous Bal Masque into a memorable rout. Loveland is the cat's pajamas-- with all the fun-filled nostalgia of a rumble seat ride to the swinging strains of "Sweet Georgia Brown." Loosely based upon the author's adventures as a singer and accordion player in his own small college band from the University of Michigan during the 30's in some of the big hotels and vacation spots in Michigan, Loveland is the romance novel of his youth. Reviews -- "Outstanding...a compelling evocation of a loss of innocence in the 30's -- a gripping tale." Cleveland Plain Dealer "This is one you must buy. It's funy, funny, funny!" Columbus Enquirer "The novel is, for the most part, enjoyably flippant. But it ranges effortlessly through a number of contrary emotions which one ordinarily doesn't expect to find gathered in the same book. In some ways the story is also a tribute to a young boy and his father (who appears sporadically) who refuse to be intimidated by the somber aspects of the early Thirties. There is crazy variety at work here and it is held together by warmth and gusto." Peter Corodimas, Best Sellers. "Swarthout has written a genuinely commic novel, full of amusing scenes and clever twists of plot. He has also caught the spirit of the period. For example, in those days the young communicated by means real snappy repartee, and he has written the story in that style. The author of Where The Boys Are has produced a really swinging entertainment. Or as they used to say in the old days, it takes you like Grant took Richmond." Associated Press Newsfeatures "The book is filled with funny incidents, long-forgotten slang, titles of popular songs that bring back memories, and a plot that keeps us reading to the last page. The dialogues are excellent, though, and the plolt is so farcical that Loveland seems destined to end up as movie. It misses greatness, but it's great fun." Ann Hirshberg, St. Petersburg, Florida Times
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006BVD7C/?tag=2022091-20
(The Button Boat was optioned for a TV-Movie by the late T...)
The Button Boat was optioned for a TV-Movie by the late TV producer, David Victor, and an adaptation was done by Emmy-winning writer John McGreevey. This juvenile novella is a Depression-era tale of action and suspense and kids' scary fun that will remind the reader quite a bit of the famous 1955 thriller film, The Night of the Hunter, starring Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish and directed by actor Charles Laughton, based on Davis Grubb's novel. "Bushwah!" shouts Auston. Hold your hats, folks. Off we go on a rollicking adventure down a river in a clamming boat with Auston and his older sister, Dixie, two of the sweetest, poorest, smelliest kids you'd ever hope to meet. This is an old-time, thriller-chiller-killer-diller of a story, complete with bank robbers, a daredevil hero, a villainess who drinks pink lemonade, a dog who likes beer, a hateful stepfather who just plain drinks, and two river kids who were tickled by a dream and opened up their shells just enough to get hooked before they could say, "What the Sam Hill goes on here?" Will they escape their drunken stepfather? Will they ever get to go to a real school? Can a black valise crammed full of money really change their lives? Can the sweet smell of character overcome the superstink of the icky, sticky clam? Read on and find out. Reviews -- What a razzle-dazzle ring-a-ding movie it would make!" Kirkus Reviews "Two beaten-down children of the Depression triumph over a wicked stepfather in a story that is melodramatic, suspenseful and funny." Outstanding childrens' books of 1969, selected by Polly Goodwin, Book World "Here is a tale with flavor. Its authors tell, with rare good humor, the story of a brother and sister, whose world is the river where they fish for clams, for inedible clams their drunken stepfather sells (this story takes place in pre-plastic days) to make clothing buttons. The sister fishes, too, for words to teach her younger brother, to redeem the pledge she had made to their mother to take care of Auston. This is going to make a dandy movie, a dramatic, lusty movie for lucky children, that is if a director like Robert Radnitz gets his honest hands on it." Publishers Weekly "The Button Boat is a sort of Bonnie and Clyde of a juvenile -- an exhuberant story set in 1934 involving two poor, smelly kids, their drunken stepfather, bank robbers, a peace officer, a beer-swilling dog, and a clamming boat 'so square at both ends that only the river knows whether it's coming or going.' " Some Notable Childrens' Books, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, the New York Times "Melodramatic, with silent-picture type captions for chapter headings and plenty of wrong-era experssions such as 'banana oil,' 'bushwah,' and 'abadaba,' this is a very funny story in which the good guys triumph in the end. Children today are said not to be interested in the Depression. They will be unable to resist the gritty Dixie and her little brother, Auston, and unable to put the book down after the first page." Jane Clark, Washington Post Book World "This is a cleverly-written book. It is full of energy and colour, a literary extravaganza....There are moments of quiet beauty, of farcical comedy, of subtle social comment. In short, the book is in many ways brilliant." Children's Book Review, Great Britain "The Button Boat is pure delight. The husband and wife co-authors, have produced a book which is almost a work of art. Its racy, descriptive style is way out and great fun. The illustrations by Suzanne Verrier are superb." Manchester Evening News, Great Britain "This is an enthralling book for intelligent young readers of nine upwards and while the language may not belong to 'England Lit' it is racy and stimulating. The illustrations by Suzanne Verrier are also extremely good and The Button Boat should go on the short list for home and school libraries." Irish Independent, Dublin
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385068247/?tag=2022091-20
(Use Novel-Ties ® study guides as your total guided readin...)
Use Novel-Ties ® study guides as your total guided reading program. Reproducible pages in chapter-by-chapter format provide you with the right questions to ask, the important issues to discuss, and the organizational aids that help students get the most out of each book they read.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/088122023X/?tag=2022091-20
(ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP ...)
ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP "Send Us a Boy -- We'll Send You a Cowboy!" is the slogan of the Box Canyon Boys Camp. But for the nail biters, thumb suckers, and teeth grinders -- the cast-away offspring of parents who are busy travelling, being divorced, remarrying, and garnering fortunes -- it's just another place to face rejection. Until Cotton. Cotton pulls them together. In a hot-wired pickup, he leads "the Bedwetters" on a fantastic mission to save a heard of buffalo -- and in the process, to save themselves. But as the raw red Arizona sun rises, they will discover the cost of their one grand moment of glory… EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: • A concise introduction that gives readers important background information • A chronology of the author's life and work • A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context • An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations • Detailed explanatory notes • Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work • Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction • A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential. SERIES EDITED BY CYNTHIA BRANTLEY JOHNSON
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743493699/?tag=2022091-20
( The Shootist is John Bernard Books, a gunfighter at ...)
The Shootist is John Bernard Books, a gunfighter at the turn of the twentieth century who must confront the greatest Shootist of all: Death. Most men would end their days in bed or take their own lives, but a gunfighter has a third option, one that Books decides to exercise. He may choose his own executioner. As word spreads that the famous assassin has incurable cancer, an assortment of human vultures gathers to feast on the corpse--among them a gambler, a rustler, a clergyman, an undertaker, an old love, a reporter, even an admiring teenager. What follows is the last courageous act in Books's own legend. This classic, Spur Award-winning novel was chosen by the Western Writers of America as one of the best western novels ever written and was the inspiration for John Wayne's last great starring role in the acclaimed 1976 film adaptation. The Bison Books edition includes a new introduction by the author's son, Miles Swarthout, in which he discusses his father's work and the making of the legendary film.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0803238231/?tag=2022091-20
(Published by 3 different publishers (Borzoi Books/Alfred ...)
Published by 3 different publishers (Borzoi Books/Alfred Knopf, 1992, and Northland Publishing, 1997) since its original edition from Random House in 1966, Whichaway has also been optioned by 3 different Hollywood producers over the decades for a possible TV-Movie or low-budget feature film. That multitude of interest by literary and film professionals qualifies this great little Western coming-of-age survival story as a "Classic." It gets bone lonesome being the only teenaged boy on a remote Arizona ranch in 1923. No wonder Whichaway's always talking to himself or his horse. No wonder he forgets things, has trouble concentrating and tends to wander off into the blue yonder. Why else would he take a notion to ride out to a sinister place like Crazy Men Mesa -- especially when a storm's brewing? The next thing he knows, a huge dust devil strikes the windmill he's greasing, leaving Whichaway stranded 30 feet off the ground on a wooden platform with two broken legs. What will he do? Nobody knows where he is except a couple of cattle rustlers, and they've left him alone to die. The other passersby in these parts are few...and murderous. The sun brands him red. Days and nights pass with no water and no rescue. The boy's world shrinks until it was as small as his own skin and skull. Even in his pain and delirium, one thing is clear: now would be a good time to take charge of things and learn to think like a man. For unless he gets down from this tall windmill somehow by himself, he is going to die.... Find out what a 15-year-old teenager named Whichaway does in this exciting story of bravery and and self-reliance set against a rugged Arizona landscape. Reviews -- "With its vivid characters, its suspense, its lean writing always fresh, vigorous, and true, Whichaway may well become a minor classic." Chicago Tribune "It took only two pages for the story to jump the hurdles and be off and running -- and never stop until its triumphant finish....This is one of the rare ones." Publishers Weekly "Remarkably convincing." Saturday Review "A taut, compelling story of an Arizona rancher's son who, stranded by two broken legs on a four-by-four platform of a windmill tower 30 feet above the ground, survives two days and two nights of pain, thirst, hunger, fear, and desperation and finally contrives a way to get himself down and astride his horse. Vivid, incisive writing gives reality and immediacy to the narrative which perceptively reveals every thought and emotion of the inept fifteen-year-old boy through the man-making ordeal that helps him decide 'whichaway' he is going." Booklist "Whichaway is not a question readers will have to ask. Once they start this, they'll read it right through to the end without stopping or losing their place....Unusual and absorbing, it's a book young people can enjoy discussing." Kirkus Reviews "Whichaway is a fifteen-year-old ranch boy at the Box O, a spread near Prescott, Arizona, who gets stranded atop a 30-foot windmill with both legs broken and nobody but a couple of cattle rustlers for company down below. This is a terrific, good-humored story, full of the spirit of an unforgettable kid who lingers in the mind long after the last page has turned." Dale Walker, Sunday Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006BNOAG/?tag=2022091-20
(A youngster relates how his grandparents donated a valuab...)
A youngster relates how his grandparents donated a valuable family heirloom, their melodeon, to the church in an unselfish act of giving one Christmas during the Depression when they had nothing to give each other.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385061633/?tag=2022091-20
Swarthout, Glendon Fred was born on April 8, 1918 in Pinckney, Michigan, United States. Son of Fred Harrington and Lila (Chubb).
Bachelor of Arts Michigan, 1939. Master of Arts, University Michigan, 1946. Doctor of Philosophy, Michigan State University, 1955.
(Published by 3 different publishers (Borzoi Books/Alfred ...)
(A youngster relates how his grandparents donated a valuab...)
(From the author of The Homesman, Glendon Swarthout’s Bles...)
(IN PIONEER NEBRASKA, A WOMAN LEADS WHERE NO MAN WILL GO ...)
(The Button Boat was optioned for a TV-Movie by the late T...)
(ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP ...)
( The Shootist is John Bernard Books, a gunfighter at ...)
(A group of children with learning disabilities have probl...)
(This perceptive novel of the 1930's is a hilarious confro...)
(Use Novel-Ties ® study guides as your total guided readin...)
(Bless the Beasts and Children{Paperback,2004})
(5 Stories from Readers Digest - 1970)
(Dust jacket art by Robert Chambers. His fourth book. A st...)
(Where the Boys Are Hardcover)
(Book by Swarthout, Glendon)
(The Homesman: A Novel)
(His tenth book.)
(Paperback. Ships withini 24 hours, weekdays.)
(....)
(book)
(No. D1679. Movie Tie-in. Cover still depicts Gary Cooper,...)
Served with United States Army, 1943-1945, European Theatre of Operations.
Son of; married Kathryn Blair Vaughn, December 28, 1940. 1 son, Miles.